Saturday, October 11, 2014

Staunton, October 11 – In what
appears to be part of a new trend in the Russian Federation, officials in Ufa
have denied a group that wanted to hold a demonstration on the republic’s Day
of the [Bashkir] Republic on the basis of technicalities which earlier these
same officials had been willing to overlook.

“It has become obvious,” the
organizers say, “that someone simply doesn’t want to give Bashkir society the
chance to assemble in the central part of the capital of Bashkortostan” and
assumes that by denying groups permission to do so on “technicalities,” he or
she will be able to achieve that goal.

But that is not the case, the
organizers say. “If the republic authorities continue to pre vent citizens from
enjoying their rights under the Russian Constitution for freedom of assembly,”
they point out, “then sooner or later, the leaders of social groups will simply
cease to submit meaningless ‘petitions’ and simply begin holding such meetings”
regardless.

That is what the organizers of today’s
demonstration say they plan to do.

There are two reasons why Bashkir
officials don’t want it to occur: On the one hand, organizers say they will
call for the return of the title of president to the head of the republic.And on the other, this meeting would occur on
the 460th anniversary of the sacking of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible,
always a sensitive issue for Moscow and the peoples of the Middle Volga.